Gardaí still examining Bishop Casey abuse file

Gardaí are still re-examining how they originally dealt with a file about now-disgraced Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey – four months after Garda Commissioner Drew Harris ordered a review into the case.

In a new statement, a spokesman for An Garda Síochána said: ‘The Garda Commissioner requested the Garda National Protective Services Bureau (GNPSB) to examine the original investigation file.’

They added that ‘this review remains ongoing’.

The Commissioner first requested an examination of the original investigation file in July, following a major investigation by The Irish Mail on Sunday and RTÉ, which revealed a string of child sexual abuse allegations against the bishop in every Irish diocese he served in, allegedly taking place from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, the documentary by award-winning Mail journalist Anne Sheridan, explored the Catholic Church’s handling of allegations against Casey.

It was one of RTÉ’s most watched documentaries this year. Patricia Donovan, Casey’s niece, claimed he began raping her when she was five and that the abuse continued for more than a decade.

She first filed a complaint with gardaí in 2005. Casey, who died in 2017, later told The Irish Times he was ‘utterly amazed’ by the speed of the decision in the case, after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) directed in August 2006 that no charges be brought.

In July of this year, former justice minister Alan Shatter said: ‘What I am mystified about is if Patricia Donovan told her story to the gardaí in January 2006, how comprehensive was the investigation that was conducted? Was there undue deference paid to Bishop Casey by the gardaí or by the Office of the DPP? I think both need to provide transparency.’

The investigation by the Mail and RTÉ revealed the bishop was removed from public ministry by the Vatican in 2007, following multiple sex abuse allegations.

Galway Diocese said it would consider the question of whether his remains should stay there, but four months after the latest allegations, no decision has been made.